Book Review

"If the book is read with the seriousness and attention it merits, it has the potential to have as profound and far-reaching an impact on religion, society, government and human relations as Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species eventually came to have on scientific and social thought nearly a century and a half earlier." ISLAM: NEW FRONTIERS, Book Review

Ramadan is the Month of the Qur'an.

For this Ramadan, 1438/2017, and thereafter, a simple and easy way for Muslims around the world to restore, revive, rebuild and strengthen their relationship with the Qur'an could be to use the Qur'an Scale given below:

Perfection belongs to God Almighty. It does not, cannot and should not belong to anyone else. Otherwise, they will all be Gods, a contradiction in terms and a meaningless expression.

For, by definition, God is someone who is “Perfect” in every conceivable way. And God is and can only be one. Otherwise, there is no God. Period.

And yet, having been created by that same Perfect God, and blessed by him with whatever skills, abilities and qualities he has bestowed upon me, it becomes virtually impossible for me to touch anything and not to seek to nail it as they say.

That is, not to do anything I do in a way, and to a level and standard, that does not leave a single stone unturned. That does not cross every “t” and dot every “i.” And makes you say, well, it looks like I cannot do much else with it.

And that includes doing whatever Allah allows and directs me to do, including the writing that I do from time to time.

Every time I sit at the computer, and write something, I ask myself:

Is everything the way it should be? Is every word, nay, every letter, in its place? And as it should be? And is every punctuation mark?

And is every fact, every bit and piece of information and every data point as accurate as possible?

And is every argument as sound, and is every conclusion as valid, as it should be?

How have my own Nafs and my Hawaa, and my own implicit biases and predilections, shaded and shaped what I am saying?

Overall, is the piece that I have written as “humanly perfect” as it is possible for a piece of writing to be, even though perfection is never our lot at any level?

I am driven to think it is becoming harder to meet those standards. Mainly for paucity of time, and the rush of life, and the demands that tend to pile up from every side.

But an Aayat comes to mind.

And what does it say about our Iman, or about our relationship with Allah, that the world we live in, our own personal life I mean, can accommodate and handle only one or two Aayats at a time! And that is all that is given to us in our hours and hours and hours of daily living?

The Aayat is this:

Sa-Yaj’alullahu Ba’da Usrin Yusraa!

What an Aayat! Allahu Akbar! Like every other Aayat in the Qur’an!

Paraphrase:

“Don’t let all the hardships break your spirit.Better times are just around the corner.”

And to think there may still be people around in this world for whom Allah and Allah’s Book may not be enough or sufficient!

Those of us who say or claim or pretend we are Working for Allah, we all have a simple motto in our life.

And it is:

Taking the Qur’an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It —

And Which One Does Not?

Regardless of how sincere or otherwise we may be, or how successful or otherwise our efforts may turn out to be, or how well or badly we may be doing our job, Qur’an remains our stated goal, our overriding purpose in life, and our motto.

Who knows, maybe, Allah will take us on our word and treat us based on our claims and not based on the true condition of our hearts or the success or failure of our efforts.

When people do not aggressively seek a position of power and influence, and Allah gives it to them on his own as it were, Allah then helps such people to handle the responsibilities that go with that job.

Mir Jaafar, Mir Sadiq and Nizam of Hyderabad had very different agendas from Sirajuddaulah and Tippu sultan.

The “Niyyat” of the first three named above was to help the British defeat the Muslim kings of India. And they succeeded in their goal and in their mission.

All three of them teamed up with the British Colonizers against Indian Muslim rulers and played a critical role in ending Muslim rule in India and in handing over the Indian Continent to the Colonizing British.

Thus began a whole new chapter in the global expansion of the British Empire! And all the evil that went with it.

Three Indian Muslim Traitors named above were the principal architects of that shameful history!

My submission to all my Muslim friends who are taking a vacation with their families:

Please do enjoy your vacation with your families.

For, your vacation could be your Ibaadat.

It could be your Worship!

May Allah keep you all in good health and give you tons and tons of fun — both in this world and in the next world — just like the Qur’an says:

Rabbanaa Aatinaa Fiddunya Hasanata,Wa Fil Aakhirati Hasanah!

For a Muslim, slaving in Allah’s Work all night and all day, Working for Allah as we have been calling it, even vacation is a way to worship Allah.

Your vacation could be you Ibaadat.

Your vacation, therefore, is not only a way to recharge your bodies and minds, and cement your family ties, and opportunities to meet all kinds of new people, it is a way to replenish the treasures of your souls right here in This World.

And, at the same time, it is an extraordinary opportunity to rake up enormous amounts of Divine Blessings, and rewards, and Thawaab, in the Next World.

Every Muslim educational institution, from High School to College to University, must have a full-fledged program on Communication that would train the younger generation of Muslims in all kinds of Communication models, theories, methods and skills.

Islam is all about Communication. Allah is the best Communicator of all. Followed by Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam.

And Qur’an is the finest form of Communication in Heaven and on earth, followed by Hadith Sharif.

It is time for Muslims to start training themselves to become the finest and most effective all-round communicators that they were meant to be.

And that they were for much of their history.

And that they need to be even now, today, so that they can do a good and effective job of taking Allah’s message to every home and heart that needs it.

And these Communication Programs need to consist of all kind of great courses on Journalism, Public Relations, Advertising, Media, and everything else communication most broadly and inclusively conceived.

One or two courses in Mass Com are not enough, by any stretch of the imagination. We need all kinds of complete and full-range programs that will produce top experts and professionals in all related fields of Communication — and pretty fast too.

I am ready, willing, and, with help from God Almighty, able, to cobble programs of this kind for anyone in any high school, college or university anywhere — at the drop of a hat as it were.

Please request free copies of our books and booklets for your family, friends and local libraries today! Send us your correct address and contact information and a brief introduction who and where you are and what you do. And we will be happy to try and send you our literature free of cost.